Three Years of Draining His Abdomen, and the Fluid Everyone Was Treating Did Not Exist
A 30-year-old farmer in Ethiopia was misdiagnosed with liver disease and treated for ascites for three years before a CT scan revealed a benign mesenteric cyst. The case highlights the diagnostic challenges when ultrasound imaging is misinterpreted in patients with abdominal distension.
Why it matters
It underscores the critical importance of advanced imaging like CT scans in confirming diagnoses when initial treatments for common conditions fail.
For three years, a 30-year-old farmer watched his abdomen swell. He visited several medical centers. He had multiple ultrasound examinations, and every one was read the same way: ascites, free fluid in the abdominal cavity. He was diagnosed with liver disease, started on diuretics, and had his abdomen tapped repeatedly to drain the fluid.None of it worked, and the label eventually became refractory ascites, meaning fluid that will not respond to treatment.There was no fluid.
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